Joe Biden Marks International Women’s Day with White House Council on Gender Policy

President Joe Biden will sign two more executive orders on Monday to mark International Women’s Day with a focus on “gender equality.”

The president will sign an order to establish a “Gender Policy Council” in the White House to help focus on gender issues such as sexual harassment, equal pay for other genders, ways to combat “gender-based violence,” and “gender equality” issues across the world.

In 2019, former President Barack Obama created a White House Council on Women and Girls during his administration to focus on women’s issues.

But Biden’s policy council will focus on all issues of gender, not just women’s issues.

“This is a matter of human rights, justice, and fairness,” the White House announced Monday.

The Biden administration said the council would aggressively work on “intersecting forms of discrimination” including “LGBTQI+” people.

From the fact sheet release:

The White House Gender Policy Council will be an essential part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to ensure we build a more equal and just society – by aggressively protecting the rights and unique needs of those who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including individuals who are Black, Latina, Native, Asian American and Pacific Islander, people with disabilities, and LGBTQI+.

The president’s second executive order will require the Department of Education to review existing education policies to protect students from sexual violence and to “evaluate” former President Trump’s Title IX regulation on issues of sexual assault.

Trump rolled back former President Barack Obama’s new Title IX standards.

The Obama administration instructed colleges and universities to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard on sexual misconduct allegations, rather than the higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard.

The Trump administration argued students accused of sexual misconduct deserved due process.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to restore Obama’s previous guidance, but it appears he is not ready to act immediately to do so by ordering an evaluation.

“Any backstepping on Title IX is unacceptable,” Biden’s campaign stated in February 2020. “The Biden Administration will restore the Title IX guidance for colleges, including the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter, which outlined for schools how to fairly conduct Title IX proceedings.”